BERT helps Google understand what a search means, including small words like for and to. There is nothing to optimise for. Pages that say plainly what you do, in your customers' words, suit it best.

What Google announced on Friday

On Friday, Google said it has started using a new language model, called BERT, to understand searches.

The name stands for Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers, which matters less than what it does.

It reads each word in a search in light of all the words around it, before and after, rather than one at a time in order.

Google says it affects about one in ten English searches in the United States, with more languages and countries to follow. It describes the change as one of its biggest to search in years.

It asks nothing of website owners. That is worth knowing before anyone tries to sell you a response to it.

The small words

Search systems have long been better at the important words in a query than at the small ones in between. Yet for, to, without and no often change the whole meaning.

One of Google's own examples was a search about picking up medicine for someone else at a pharmacy. The words for someone are the point of the question.

Another was a search about parking on a hill with no curb, where the word no had previously been given too little weight.

These are longer, conversational searches, the kind people type when they describe a situation rather than name a product.

What it does not change

The third is worth repeating to anyone offering to make a site ready for BERT. There is nothing to install and nothing to configure, because the change is in how Google reads the search.

Nothing to optimise for

Much of search optimisation has been about matching the words people type. The system reading those words is now better at reading them as a person would.

That removes the point of tricks aimed at words. A page that repeats a phrase, or strings town names together, is written for a reader that no longer works quite that way.

What a system built to understand language can match well is a page that clearly answers the question being asked. That is not a technique. It is good writing about your business.

Write the way customers ask

The best source of wording is the phone. The questions customers ask, in the words they use, are close to what they type into a search box.

Write those questions down for a week, then make sure each one is answered on the right page, in a plain sentence.

Use the customer's words rather than the trade's. People search for a laptop that will not turn on after a spill, not for liquid damage diagnostics.

And say who a service is for, and who it is not for. Repairs for phones on any carrier, appointments without a referral, delivery to the islands: the small words carry real information.

A worked example

A phone and computer repair shop in a strip mall had a services page written years ago around a keyword list: phone repair, laptop repair, screen repair, data recovery, each followed by the city's name.

The calls told a different story. People asked whether a laptop could be fixed after a spill, whether the shop worked on older phones, and whether photos could be saved from a phone that would not turn on.

The page was rewritten this summer, for reasons that had nothing to do with Google.

It now answers them in sentences: most phones and laptops, whatever their age; a spill needs bringing in the same day, switched off; photos can often be recovered from a phone that will not start, depending on the damage.

Each common fault got a short paragraph, in the customer's own words, under a plain heading.

Nothing in it was written for BERT. It was written for the person on the phone, which is the point.

Keyword lists on old pages

Many small business sites still carry text written for an older idea of search: a paragraph of keywords at the bottom of the page, or headings built from phrases nobody would say aloud.

They read badly to visitors, and to a system reading for meaning they add nothing a plain sentence would not.

Rewrite them as sentences a person would want to read. Most can be cut to a fraction of their length without losing anything.

The same goes for image descriptions stuffed with keywords, which screen reader users hear read aloud.

What to expect in your numbers

Most local Canadian sites will see little visible change this week. For rankings, the model is starting with English searches in the United States.

Google says it is also using BERT for featured snippets, the answer boxes above some results, in the countries where they appear.

For sites with American visitors, any shift would show in longer searches. The queries report in Search Console lists the searches that brought visitors, and the long, question-like ones are where to look over the coming months.

If some long searches stop bringing visitors, another page may simply answer them better. The fix is the same as ever: answer the question more clearly.

The counter-case

Some businesses are found almost entirely through short searches: their own name, a product code, a brand. For them, this change will barely register.

Plain writing is not dumbed-down writing, either. A supplier selling to engineers should use the engineering terms its customers use, because those are their words.

And clear writing does not rescue a page that is slow, broken on phones or missing the answer altogether.

For most service businesses, though, the advice is the same as it was before Friday: write about what you do, plainly, in the words your customers use.

What to do

  1. Change nothing in a hurry.
  2. Ignore offers to optimise for BERT.
  3. Write down the questions customers phone about.
  4. Answer each one plainly on the right page.
  5. Rewrite keyword lists as sentences.
  6. Read each service page aloud.
  7. Check longer searches in Search Console monthly.

Step four is where the work is, and where the benefit is. A page that answers a real question in plain words was worth having before Friday, and nothing announced since has changed that.

Why a site built for people holds up through Google's changes is covered in the third core update this year.

Frequently asked questions

What is Google's BERT update?

A language model Google now uses to understand searches, reading each word in light of the words around it. It affects about one in ten English searches in the United States.

Can I optimise my site for BERT?

There is nothing specific to optimise for, and no markup, plugin or setting relates to it. Pages that answer real questions plainly, in customers' words, are what it suits.

Is BERT a penalty or a core update?

Neither. It changes how Google understands searches, and it is separate from the core updates in March, June and September. Nothing is being punished.

Does BERT affect Canadian searches yet?

For rankings, Google says it started with English searches in the United States. It is already used for featured snippets more widely, but most local Canadian sites will see little change yet.

Why do small words in searches matter?

Words like for, to, without and no often change what a search means. BERT is better at reading them in context instead of passing over them.

Where should my page wording come from?

From the questions customers ask by phone, in their own words. Write them down for a week, then answer each plainly on the page where it belongs.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Service pages written as keyword lists?

Send us the questions your customers ask by phone. We will rewrite the pages to answer them plainly.

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